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| Beethoven program: Hans Boepple
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| Pianist Hans Boepple offers a program of all Beethoven |
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| By Heather Zimmerman |
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Pianist Hans Boepple has made a name for himself as a musician nationwide. A number of his performances have been broadcast by National Public Radio and Voice of America, and he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Long Beach Symphony, the Denver Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra, among others. On a more local level, Boepple is a key player in the Bay Area music community, although one could say it's often in a behind-the-scenes capacity.
Since 1995, Boepple has served as the chairman of the department of music at Santa Clara University, where he has been a professor of music for almost 25 years.
But the university isn't keeping this accomplished musician all to itself. Boepple plays in recitals throughout the Bay Area and performed with the Santa Cruz Symphony in September. On Jan. 25, Santa Clara University spotlights Boepple's virtuosity in performance with an all-Beethoven program of works for solo piano. As part of the department of music's faculty recital series, Boepple will perform Beethoven's Sonata in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" and 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120.
This intimate solo performance should be a treat. The selections featured at the recital offer what Boepple, in notes about the program, describes as a "study in contrasts," with the tone of the "Appassionata" dark and dramatic, and the Diabelli variations bright and jubilant.
Boepple cites the latter work as Beethoven's "crowning achievement" in the form of variations, even though the waltz upon which the composer so brilliantly and prolifically expanded came into existence as something of a publicity stunt by a Viennese music publisher.
Boepple earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the prestigious Indiana University School of Music, where he later served on the faculty. He has garnered numerous awards, including first prize in the J.S. Bach International Competition, and has been listed on the Steinway International Artist Roster for more than 20 years.
Hans Boepple performs Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Santa Clara University Center of Performing Arts Recital Hall, Franklin and Lafayette streets, Santa Clara. Tickets are $5$10. For more information, call 408.554.4015 or visit www.scu.edu/cpa.
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| The Steinway Society presents noted pianist Rebecca Penneys |
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| By Heather Zimmerman |
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In pianist and educator Rebecca Penneys, the classical music world has found, in a sense, a way to have its cake and eat it, too. Penneys maintains an international concert schedule so extensive that it seems she wouldn't have time to teach, and yet she keeps such a busy teaching schedule that it seems she wouldn't have the time to perform. However, the acclaim Penneys receives as both musician and professor shows that she ably balances her two full-time careers.
Local audiences will get a chance to enjoy Penneys in both of her roles. She will perform in a concert presented by the Steinway Society of the Bay Area on Jan. 19 in San Jose, and she will conduct master classes Jan. 17 in San Francisco and Jan. 18 in Santa Clara.
Currently a professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where she has taught since 1980, Penneys is also chairwoman of the piano department at Chautauqua Institution and a visiting artist at St. Petersburg College in Florida. She regularly leads master classes at schools around the world. Penneys has become known for teaching a unique keyboard technique called "Motion and Emotion."
In addition to her standout approach to instruction, Penneys' powerful, expressive performance style also puts her in demand. When not on tour (in recent years, she has performed throughout the South Pacific and Asia), Penneys has recorded three solo CDs, which include The Complete Chopin Etudes and All Brahms. She also performs and records as part of the New Arts Trio, which she founded. The trio has a new CD, In Recital at Chautauqua, set for release later this month on the Fleur de Son label.
For her Steinway Society concert, Penneys' program features works by Chopin, Grieg, Debussy, Mozart, Liszt and Gershwin-Wild.
The Steinway Society of the Bay Area presents Rebecca Penneys performing Jan. 19, 7 p.m. at Le Petit Trianon, 72 N. Fifth St., San Jose. Tickets are $15$25. For tickets and information, call 408.246.4200 or visit www.steinwaythebayarea.com. For information about the master classes, to be held Jan. 17 in San Francisco and Jan. 18 in Santa Clara, call 408.492.9970.
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